Most fathers all over America have a stack of how-to books to tell them how fix the sink or change the brakes on the car, but not one like Hunter S. Fulghum’s new how-to guide. It contains step-by-step instructions on projects other books left out and for good reason.
A how-to book to top all other how-to books, “Don’t Try This at Home: How to Win a Sumo Match, Catch a Great White Shark, Start an Independent Nation, and Other Extraordinary Feats (for Ordinary People),” offers a wide variety of instructions from how to break into Fort Knox to how to win a sumo match. It presents almost all of the information anyone attempting the proposed projects would need.
“Some of it seems real funny, but other parts seem a bit too real,” said Kelly Ashe, an elementary education junior. “Obviously it’s a spoof on how-to books, but someone is going to read it and try to do it.”
The book includes projects like catching the Loch Ness monster, repelling off the Eiffel Tower and meeting aliens at Area 51. For the more serious risk-taker, the book contains plans for borrowing the Mona Lisa and smuggling top-secret documents.
Each project comes with a list of materials, the time required and historical background, including advice from the experts and instructions. Each section is very carefully detailed listing almost everything that could be useful, including places to shop for the equipment.
Most normal people would not attempt anything located in this book, but in a world where reality shows like Fear Factor have become popular, Fulghum decided to answer the question: “If the average man or woman was willing to leap off a bridge tied to a bungee cord, what else might he or she consider trying–assuming the proper instruction was provided?”
“Most of the things in this book are outlandish. Some are silly perhaps. Quite a few of them, if attempted, may result in a person being shot, killed, maimed, or thrown in jail for a very long time,” writes Fulghum in his introduction to the book. “At least two of them include the risk of being eaten by a large animal, and one may place the participant in the clutches of aliens with a predilection for human vivisection, which is dissection.”
The author spent many months conducting research for the guides in this book. He spoke to many experts to get what he termed “the good information,” such as the security system specifications at the Louvre. However, people responded with silence and a funny clicking noise on the phone as the trace began.
“I’m not sure if I like it or not. I mean I wouldn’t try the stuff that’s in there, but I’m not too sure about other people,” said Austin Perkins, a landscape architecture sophomore. “With all the terrorism stuff that’s going on around the world, I would like to know what the author was thinking when he decided to publish the book.”
The book is a quick, easy read and a must-have for those thrill-seekers that have run out of new and interesting things to try. Although the author and publisher do not recommend trying any of this at home, they do make it quite enjoyable to read.